Thursday, July 4, 2013

USA June 2013

Chevrolet Volt's "trunk" (Didn't they had the time to make a proper one?)

"Lower Prices = Increased Sales" Edition

Thanks to lower prices in some models (Leaf, Fit) and larger discounts in others (Volt), the US EV market grew 4% regarding last month, reaching 7.897 units sold in June, making it the second best selling month this year, with YTD now reaching 40.730 units, almost tripling sales regarding June '12 and just 15K behind the total sales of 2012 (54.933). The 90.000 units I've predicted early this year for the US market in '13 are on track and considering that the second half of the year is always stronger in the US plug-in market, we should see numbers above that, will it reach 100.000 units? Only time will tell.

In the podium, the Chevrolet Volt jumped from third to the top spot thanks to a year-best month: 2.698 units sold due to generous incentives making the GM plug-in also #1 YTD. The Model S dropped to third, selling just 950 units, while it prepares itself to arrive in Europe. The Nissan Leaf remained in #2 with the second best ever month (2.225 units), enjoying the benefits of the price reduction it had a few months ago, securing also the second place YTD. As a curious fact, all three models are separated by just 55 units in the YTD ranking...Now that Tesla will focus on foreign markets, the next months should see both the Volt and the Leaf fighting for #1.

In the next positions things remain stable, with the Prius (#4), Ford C-Max (#5) and Ford Fusion Energi (#6) cementing their positions, while the consistent Focus Electric climbs one position to #7.

For the rest of the market, Honda registers a new sales record for the Fit EV with 208 units sold in June (The previous record was just 26 units), a not-so-surprising number given the price reduction (259$/month lease, down from 389$) it had, which only strengthens the feeling that price reductions translates in more sales. Who will be next to follow this strategy? We're looking at you, Ford...

We welcome the Chevrolet Spark EV, selling 27 units in its debut month, a surprisingly low number, let's see what the next months brings to this new market player.